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Monday, 9 November 2015

On Scaremongering and The Importance of Keeping the Real Agenda From the Masses - By Russell O'Phobe

From Russell O'Phobe to all journalists working on Russia-related stories in the media

Dear Friends & Colleagues,

I want to begin this missive by pointing to some of the success stories
that we have seen over the past few weeks, before going on to issue what
I believe is a necessary warning about some of the challenges that lie
ahead.

I must say that it has been particularly pleasing for me personally to see many of the rules I set out for you in my "Primer on the Art of Writing Russian Scare Stories" and in my last letter
being followed so judiciously by so many of you. The exercise was
clearly valuable and it seems that many of the points I made have been
thoroughly imbibed. That is to your credit.

Let me draw your attention to one such example, which I think we can all learn from. The Huffington Post recently ran a wonderful piece entitled "What Would Happen If Russia Cut The Transatlantic Data Cables?"
Now that's a great start, is it not? Fear? Check! Disturbing question
ungrounded in anything resembling reality? Check! Presupposing that the
Russians are so unutterably sinister that they want to shut down the
internet? Check! The perfect headline to start a scare story.

The piece itself was a masterpiece in the art. I urged you in my
Primer to make good use of submarines in your articles — gives them a
very Cold War feel — and I also went on to encourage the use of phrases
such as "Fears are growing that...". Well HuffPo really exceeded all my expectations of the sort of thing we can conjure up if we put our minds to it. Here's an excerpt:

"Recent reports have suggested that deep beneath the ocean, something
ominous is taking place. According to sources inside the US intelligence
community there is an increased fear that Russia could have the power
to take down the world's internet...Some have even postured that these
deep sea cloak and dagger manoeuvres could be the start of a 'new Cold
War'".

Got that? Recent reports! From where? Doesn't say. Why not?
Doesn't need to! Are they credible? Who cares! You see how it works? Try
making something up off the top of your head — say, Russians have
developed technology that can cause mental illnesses at targeted people
groups — and then all you have to do is refer to some other "reports"
add a few spicy phrases like "cloak and dagger manoeuvres" or "sinister
movements" into the mix, and you've got your story.

Information Clearing House

Alison Weir / If Americans Knew...

The Corbett Report

Centre for Research on Globalisation

Signs of the Times

Photojournalism:

BOYCOTT ISRAEL

BREAK THE GATEKEEPERS

ARE YOU A CITIZEN OR A SUBJECT?

The inability to grasp the pathology of our oligarchic rulers is one of our gravest faults. We have been blinded to the depravity of our ruling elite by the relentless propaganda of public relations firms that work on behalf of corporations and the rich.

We need to remember that, psychopaths and other personality disordered individuals really have no choice but to be what they are; they are like forces of nature. But normal human beings DO have a choice as to whether they will accept abuse or not. By accepting abuse, they give power to the psychopaths to abuse others so it is not just a matter of self-preservation; it is a matter of making sure that our children have a future. It seems that, in a world where the people cannot or will not, rise up against psychopathy in power, the Cosmos will do it for them, and take them out as well for their silence and their weakness. The bottom line is, nobody and no event is going to “save” anyone. It is only human beings, individually and collectively, who have the power to BE salvation.” – Laura Knight-Jadczyk

Plans for control of the evil forces that have been loosed in the world, attempts to compensate the evil- doing by good works or sympathy for the victims, efforts to safeguard the peace or to effect ideal solutions of all the material problems involved, can do little to change the nature of the situation. The real problem, namely, the question of what can be done for civilization in face of the nonhuman forces arising from the collective unconscious in thousands or rather millions of individual persons, will remain untouched. However, if only one human being has met and solved the problem in himself, he will be a living demonstration of a solution. Such an individual carries with him the germ of a renaissance of the spiritual values of mankind.

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